MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

9/2 20 in a row

Sunday’s game is the 10th of 20 in a row for the Cubs, and manager Dale Sveum says the bullpen is holding up pretty good so far. After closing the series against the Giants, the Cubs play the Nationals in a four-game series starting Monday. Sveum will give some of the players a breather but he’ll pick his spots.

“I think it’s Dale knowing the guys,” Anthony Rizzo said about time off. “We talk all the time, and he knows where I’m at. This game will get to you. You take the day off, relax, watch from [the bench], learn a thing or two, and keep going every day.”

Said Sveum: “I’ll give them days off if its called for or we’re not playing contending teams.”

However, since Nationals are contending team, expect the regulars to play this series. The Cubs haven’t seen the Nats since the first series of the season. Chicago’s lineup was much different then. On April 5, Ian Stewart was at third base, Marlon Byrd in center field, Geovany Soto catching, Jeff Baker at first base, Ryan Dempster pitching. Stewart is on the disabled list after wrist surgery but the rest of the players are gone via trade.

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